The second brew!

Have you ever had this experience, where you have the nicest cup of tea or coffee, so nice that you are sad when it’s done? As an avid tea drinker I get that a lot, so of course the easy answer is to have another cuppa. But here is the rub. It’s never quite as good as that first cup. It’s often heard around our table when I get together with the in-laws, and there’s a big pot of tea on the go. Then second pot gets made and then comes the usual “it’s never as good as the first cup”.

As often seemingly innocuous daily experiences do, it got  me to thinking. It can be a little bit like being a Christian. You see, I remember the moment I first gave my life to God. I was 16, on a Christian outreach team in Ballycastle and for the first time in my life I encountered the Holy Spirit. It was electric. I can still remember the shivers as every hair on my body stood on end and I felt the weight lifted from my heart. It was a truly wonderful feeling. But over time that feeling can wane. We can go to church and do all the usual things but it doesn’t always come with that electricity. So what do we do?

Well the sad reality is that for many of us, when that initial excitement wears off, so too can our enthusiasm, and many of us drift away from church life and even the faith.

But if you think like I do (which granted you probably don’t) when the second cup of tea isn’t as good, what do we do? Do we stop drinking tea altogether? Just give up?

Well no, of course not, that would be a bit extreme, wouldn’t it? Of course, we keep having our tea and coffee every day (sometimes several times a day) in the hope and the faith that the next cup will be just as good as the first. Sometimes it isn’t, but sometimes it is.

Just like in our walk with God, sometimes it’s exhilarating and sometimes, well sometimes it’s just normal. Like the not so good cup of tea, it’s not bad, it’s just normal.

So what do we do when our faith feels a little stagnant? Do we quit? Just like we don’t quit our beloved beverages, we need to keep journeying on with our faith, because more often than not our faith journey will involve quite a lot of just living out the everyday! It doesn’t always have to be that kind of exhilarating you feel when you see your favourite worship band playing, or for me, that deeply spiritual power that you feel when you partake in holy communion. Sometimes our faith is just ordinary.

But here’s what’s great about it, even an every day ordinary life is a life better lived with Jesus. We are all called to a life of ministry, to act out Jesus’ love in the everyday ordinary, never knowing when the next moment of divine enrichment will be, just like you never know if the next cuppa is going to be the best one yet, so don’t give up. Find joy in the ordinary. Jesus himself had plenty of ordinary days where he just hung out with his parents. So keep on journeying with Jesus, and keep on putting the kettle on! Especially in these coming weeks and months with the uncertainty we face, now is a more important time than ever to take a little time with Jesus each day, so pop the kettle on!